| CLIENT | INDUSTRY | PERIOD |
|---|---|---|
| A large Insurance company in India |
Life Insurance | FEB’ 15 - SEP’ 16 |
PROJECT
To grow Direct channel sales by improving the per person productivity of the Direct Sales team (DST). This was a field sales team supported by a Centralized Tele-calling (TELCA) team. This was an enlarged scope of a previous project done by Serengeti Ventures.
OBJECTIVES
• To grow productivity per person in terms of number of units sold (NOPs or number of policies);
• To improve consistency and reduce dependency on high ticket, seasonal sales (contest driven).
• To make this channel profitable i.e. total channel costs to be under “product allowable” costs.
WORK DONE
• A detailed 3-month observation and data gathering was done wherein Serengeti Ventures collected data and MI on all aspects of the sales team performance across 24 months, by location, by vintage of sales person, by product, lead systems, daily activity management, incentives, KPIs, targets etc.
• Initiatives at the field level were developed on 4 parameters:
» Improvement of lead funnel at the top (both for local level and centralized leads);
» Role clarity, simpler KPIs/goal-sheets, improved Incentive plans
» Supervisory coaching system developed and handed over to the company;
» Training Workshops done across the country (5 regions) to cover all team members;
• HR related items: attrition management steps were identified, job descriptions were re-drafted, offer letters to new recruits contained clear goal expectations, new performance appraisal system with greater weightage on NOPs was launched.
• Sales support: Tele-calling lead generation was bolstered and expanded.
• Sales support: Activity management system (Vymo) was implemented.
• Branch wise scorecard was published for all reviews and monitoring of progress.
• New database for leads was generated from “auto surrender” base. This was hugely successful in conversions.
KEY OUTCOMES
Sales grew by 35% year on year. |
NOPs per person grew 41% to 2.4 from 1.7 per month. Significant growth was achieved without adding any new headcount to the sales force. |
Local lead generation (corporate worksites, database gathering) was implemented with success. . |
|---|
KEY LEARNINGS
This project tested our core insights and execution. Direct Sales teams must focus on PPM (products sold per month) and other metrics take care of themselves. We were challenged constantly by a well-set team that was considered successful internally. They were resistant to major changes such as lead generation, stepping out of office more to visit existing customers etc. This was a major improvement in sales culture.